LaSalle had been sleeping relatively well for a few hours. Hours earlier, after Elizabeth had disappeared inside, he had waited before following her. They were finally able to have a decent conversation and try to resolve some of the issues plaguing them. At least they were making progress, if not real solutions.
She had persisted in staying in the spare bedroom, despite any progress they had made. Chris hadn't made note of the time when he left the room; he figured around 10, but had ended up pacing on the balcony for better part of an hour before quitting and trying to sleep. He tossed and turned before finally drifting off only to be woke up minutes later it felt like.
"Chris," a voice hissed to him. He was being shook, he realized. Who was in his apartment? His brain quickly woke up as the pieces came together. Right. "Chris. You need to get up. Now. Hurry."
"What's going on?" Chris slurred; he was awake if his verbal skills were not. The urgency in Elizabeth's voice caused him to be on high alert.
"Someone's messing with the gate. I hear it rattling," she said, watching as he found some shorts and then gathered his service weapon and keys.
Any other time, he would have brushed off her worry; any other time, it would have been some drunk deciding to sleep it off at their gate. It had happened before. Any other time was not right now and he headed out of his bedroom determined to get to the bottom of this. He didn't know what time it was, but nonetheless said "Call Pride" and disappeared.
Outside on the landing, Chris could make out the shape of someone down by the gate, squatting in darkness; he hated having the streetlight blocked by the awning of the shop next door.
"Federal agent," he called from halfway down the stairs, "What are you doing on my property?"
LaSalle heard a noise of surprise and next thing he knew a brick somewhere up over to the left of him was hit as he saw the figure turn and run. The initial shot was all he needed and returned two shots, hoping to injure the person somehow. He heard a yell of pain and saw the person get into a dark vehicle before it sped off.
He let out a sigh and leaned against the wall next to the gate. Chris knew which way the car went but couldn't get a make or model of it. He put the safety on his weapon and went back up the stairs to put more clothes on before police arrived; he was certain at least one of the neighbors had called them. Gunshots in this area weren't too very common. He also wondered when Pride would arrive. He figured it had only been about 2 minutes that he was outside. Maybe 5 since he was initially woke up.
Chris flipped on the lightswitch on the inside of the door, "Liz?" he called out, heading back for his room. It wasn't like this place was very large. She showed up a moment later, shakily. "I called him; he said it'd be about ten minutes." He took a moment to look at the clock, 2:12a.m. It was going to be a long day.
/
5 hours later and LaSalle was fighting a migraine from a lack of sleep and leads going no where. The police had shown up just a few minutes after he had gone back outside, this time without his gun by with his badge. Pride had followed them 30 seconds later. It had taken an hour and a half to get the New Orleans police department up-to-date on their case and then move forward with what had just taken place along with collecting statements and evidence (however little there ended up being).
Pride had called both Percy and Brody at 6 to bring them up to speed and have more eyes available, but an hour later, they were all at a stand still. It was still too early to call any businesses and ask for security camera footage and the police department out in BSL still hadn't turned over anything.
The two women took advantage of the slow period and Elizabeth being out of ear shot elsewhere in the building - both she and LaSalle could agree that she ought not to be alone at the apartment. "So..." Brody said, leaning back in her office chair, facing Chris who was growing more and more visibly frustrated as the time wore on.
Chris looked up from his paperwork to the woman who spoke, "So?"
"So you and Elizabeth..." Brody trailed off, with a smirk.
Chris couldn't help but laugh, despite his frustrations. He was surprised as to how long they had kept comments to themselves and not harrassed Elizabeth. "What about us?"
"You're really married?" Despite the apparent name change, Brody was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around it. Something seemed off.
"People don't change their name on the fly," he said. This wasn't true necessarily; they had people all the time coming up with phony names and trying to hide with alternate names. "But, yeah. We are. Courthouse has the documents." Courthouse. That put an idea in Chris' mind while Brody still talked.
"Perhaps this is out of line; forgive me for asking, but why is it that neither of you wear wedding rings?" Having worked with him for over a year now, Brody never saw a band on his hand. For that matter, Elizabeth didn't wear hers either and Brody hadn't seen any indication that either had worn them in a long time. No tan lines or indentations. Percy watched the verbal volleying, interested in what Chris had to say.
"You're right, it is out of line. But it isn't something horrible or secretive. I never wore a ring. Nah, I take that back, I wore it for about a week after we got married and then stopped. I didn't want every criminal I ran into knowing somewhere out there I had someone. People are crazy. You've seen this." He paused. "Liz wears hers sporadically. Most of the time she doesn't wear her rings on her finger. Instead she has them on a necklace chain," or rather, she did. He wasn't sure what she did with them anymore. "Since she works in the operating room mostly, they are advised not to wear rings and bracelets for sanitary reasons. I think she could wear just her band and nothing be said, but she doesn't want to risk it."
Brody seemed to accept this answer; something Chris was thankful for, as it was the truth. "So did you have a big, fancy wedding?"
He shook his head as he stood up, something weighing heavily on his mind. "No, we eloped a day before our vacation. I'll be back," he said and went to find Elizabeth.
Chris walked back in a few moments later, a puzzled Elizabeth following him. He went to his desk after rolling a chair near it. It took him a moment to find, but he found a notebook to write things in. "Have you been in the OR only for the past few weeks?" Chris finally asked her, looking up at her.
Elizabeth was very confused. Chris had found her reading once more outside and beckoned her inside, saying he needed her help and had questions. She thought it was about early this morning. "No, they've been short staffed in the ER, so I've spent a day or so in there over the last few weeks." Brody and Percy were giving LaSalle questioning looks too, wondering where he was going with this.
"Get anyone suspicious?" He was writing more down, trying to follow his scattered and harried train of thought.
"As in what? We get people addicted to pain meds in and need more. We have people de-toxing off who knows what. We see domestic abuse. What's suspicious?"
Chris thought about that. He didn't know how to explain it. "Anyone weird - outside of drug users, how about that?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "We get our fair share." A lightbulb went off. "Oh... there was one guy. I'm sure he was on something but he came in for a broken wrist. He thought my last name was odd."
LaSalle, Percy, and Brody's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah?" Chris said, "Odd how?"
Elizabeth didn't think much of it at the time, or now for that matter. It was one comment three weeks ago. "He made some comment about how it didn't seem all that common or whatever. I shrugged it off."
"Do you remember his name?" Chris didn't like the way this was going. He was afraid it was a grudge thing from years past. It would explain why he had been singled out.
She gave him an 'are you crazy' look. "It's been around... 2 weeks ago. I'm not sure I could legally do that anyway. You might be able to get records of who visited then. I think it was two weeks ago, today. Wednesdays aren't necessarily busy."
Chris sighed. Great, more waiting. But it was more than what they had as of an hour ago. Surely something would come of all these loose ends. The possible injury from this morning; the hospitals had been alerted. His eyes widened as he sat up, "Call whoever is in charge of the ER," he said to Elizabeth suddenly.
Not wanting to argue or start another fight, she pulled out her phone, "What am I calling about?" she asked him, wondering who exactly would be on duty this morning.
"Ask if someone's come in today with a gun shot wound." He knew it was low odds, but they had been there before. And if they had been before, they could be local to that area.
Elizabeth shrugged, "I'll call; you talk. You're more likely to get answers than I would, honestly," she said and dialed. She waited until she got someone on the line and was connected to the right person before handing it over to LaSalle.
The entire conversation lasted five minutes. "No gun shot wounds, but she said she'd keep in touch if she did, and leave a note for the next one in charge. There's going to be an official request put in to get the files from two weeks ago, so we're back to waiting. At least there's cooperation."
/
The day dragged on slowly for all of them. Eventually, offices and shops were open and LaSalle, Brody, Percy, and Pride were on the phone trying to get information from one source or another. Throughout the day, two would disappear for a couple hours and then come back with perhaps a bit more information. Chris' neighbors were willing to give up the surveillance tapes in hopes of them being useful. They hated to think of him moving because of this; they rather enjoyed having someone in law enforcement near their stores, even if he wasn't home a lot.
Much to LaSalle's chagrin, the work day ended without hearing from anyone. None of the hospitals contacted them, nor did either of the two police departments they were working with. Plame was still working with the video to try and get facial features or a vehicle description.
After Brody and Percy hesitantly left, Pride turned to Chris and Elizabeth. "What are you two going to do?" he questioned. He knew Chris would have no issue going back to his apartment, nothing bothered him for the most part, but Elizabeth was a different story.
LaSalle shrugged, "Guess we'll go home, I reckon. The lock hasn't been broke on the gate or anything." He looked to Elizabeth, "You good with that?"
She really wasn't okay with that. She'd much rather be miles and miles away than in the middle of this. However, Elizabeth wasn't sure if Chris would listen if she asked not to stay there. She bit her lip and shook her head slightly. "Is there another option?"
Pride interjected before Chris could. "I could call Brody or Percy and see if either of them have room for you," he offered hopeful.
Chris shook his head on that, he wasn't willing to let her out of his sight. Call it paranoid or over protective, he wasn't having it at that moment. Who knew where this person could be, even if true physical harm hadn't been initiated. Chris was certain nothing exciting would happen through out all of this, but he wasn't willing to make those bets. "We could stay here or get a hotel room. Hotel couldn't be under the LaSalle name."
Pride nodded, "I could get a room for you or you could use an alias. I'm not saying you couldn't stay here, but actual living space isn't much."
Elizabeth thought about it a moment. "Hotel."
/
90 minutes later and Elizabeth was sitting on the edge of a bed in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, which truth be told wasn't but a few blocks from home, but it made her feel better knowing how secure it was. She was presently watching Chris peer out of the window every thirty seconds or so it seemed. After they had left the office, they went to their home to get clothes and toiletries which was all non-eventful. They hadn't been followed, nothing was off about their apartment. It still didn't make Elizabeth less nervous.
She had to admit the room was quite lovely. She had never stayed at this hotel before; never had the need to really. She'd love to stay here again for a less frightening reason.
Finally Chris spoke, "Percy and Brody haven't been bugging you with questions, have they?"
"No, why? They asked me a couple yesterday, but that was it."
He just shook his head; as long as she wasn't being pestered. "They asked me a couple today. Wanted to know if we had a big, fancy wedding and all that."
Elizabeth couldn't help but grin, "What was your response?"
Chris could hear the grin in her voice without having to turn towards her. "Said we eloped. That might be the closest description."
She couldn't stop the laugh this time. That was an interesting description. They had been dating -consistently - for about 6 months and were about to leave on a cruise the following day when Chris suggested, casually, that they should get married - that day. It was then followed by a rather pretty ring. She was surprised, but agreed nonetheless. They were married during his lunch break and a simple vacation turned into a honeymoon. It had been a great 8 years since. "Think they'll press you for more information?"
He loved to hear her laugh, "I'm sure. They can be very subtle at time, other times not so much. It's just ... different. They are having a hard time accepting this. The me they know isn't... " he trailed off, unsure how to handle this conversation. There were things he preferred she didn't know.
Elizabeth nodded. "I got it. You can stop." There were things she was glad she didn't know about him. Perhaps this evening wouldn't be as bad as last night. "So you're sleeping on the floor, right?" That warranted her a dirty look. Ah yes, a fun night indeed.